NEW YORK – The assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump is a “horrific moment” for America and a “sobering reminder” of the threat that political violence poses to democracy in the country ahead of the high-stakes presidential election, The New York Times commented on Sunday.
“It is a mercy that Trump was not seriously injured by gunfire at an evening campaign rally in Butler, a Pennsylvania city north of Pittsburgh, and a tragedy that at least one person at the rally was killed. We hope that Mr. Trump recovers quickly and fully,” it added.
“Americans also must be clear-eyed about the challenge that is confronting this nation. Saturday’s events cannot be written off as an aberration. Violence is infecting and inflecting American political life,” the newspaper said.
“Acts of violence have long shadowed American democracy, but they have loomed larger and darker of late. Cultural and political polarisation, the ubiquity of guns and the radicalising power of the internet have all been contributing factors, as this board laid out in its editorial series The Danger Within in 2022. This high-stakes presidential election is further straining the nation’s commitment to the peaceful resolution of political differences,” it added.
